Arts Education Classroom Resources

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Arts & Digital Literacy

Arts & Digital Literacy (A&DL) is a project-based fine arts program that integrates technology into the creative classroom through innovative curricula created by the Trust, in partnership with The University of Texas at Austin College of Fine Arts. A&DL gives students all the benefits of an arts rich education, while preparing them for the modern workplace. All courses are aligned with the current Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standards for fine arts and count as fine arts credit for graduation.

Access the Canvas Platform Program Brochure

The Curriculum

Theatre and Media Communications I & II:

In Theatre and Media Communications I & II, students engage in pragmatic theatrical study coupled with video and audio design. Creation and analysis of student performances balance with exploration of contemporary practices in digital media. Students learn how to fuse traditional stagecraft with current technological applications to create new media, such as animations, digital images, and multimedia presentations.

Theatre and Media Communications
PEIMS Code: 03251300
Theatre and Media Communications II
PEIMS Code: 03251400

Music and Media Communications I:

The innovative music curriculum aims to ensure that all students, who may or may not have an extensive background in music, experience exciting, hands-on instruction in music, while integrating digital media. The standards-based instruction focuses on fundamental music skills, but students will also explore and discover their own personal musicality using media-based resources for listening, recording, sharing, composing, and—most importantly—making music.

Music and Media Communications I
PEIMS Code: 03156400
Music and Media Communications II
PEIMS Code: 03158500

Art and Media Communications I & II:

This pioneering visual art curriculum combines the powerful art principles with technology as a way to bridge traditional fine art education with contemporary digital media applications. One expected outcome is to equip students with 21st century skills that are highly sought-after by colleges and the workforce. The courses combine rigorous and relevant experiential study of modern, post-modern, and contemporary art and design with explorative student learning in various media platforms.

Art and Media Communications I
PEIMS Code: 03500120
Art and Media Communications II
PEIMS Code: 03501230

Dance and Media Communications I & II:

Students enrolled in Dance and Media Communications I & II will undertake diligent studies of dance history, dance technique, and choreography to explore how these elements translate to a digital medium. Through creation and analysis, students learn how to integrate traditional and contemporary dance with current modes of technology to reinvent the medium as they know it. The resulting product will take many forms, such as digital videos, websites, and interactive performances.

Dance and Media Communications I
PEIMS Code: 03834500
Dance and Media Communications II
PEIMS Code: 03834600

Now on Canvas!

How to Access FREE Curricula:

1)  Go to Canvas Homepage
2)  Click ‘Register’ and fill out form with the teacher’s information
3)  Texas Cultural Trust will enroll the teacher within 1-2 business days
4)  AFTER confirmation of enrollment go back to Canvas Homepage
5)  Click ‘Create Password’
6)  Wait for Canvas to send you a link. Check your spam. This may take up to 4 hours.

Troubleshooting Canvas

If you cannot create a password, contact Canvas by clicking the HELP button at the bottom of the Canvas Homepage

If you have questions on courses or enrollment, email info@txculturaltrust.org

Canvas Site

Career Exploration in The Arts

The Texas Cultural Trust is committed to increasing access to quality arts education for all Texas children. In response to our community’s state of emergency and to support distance learning, the Texas Cultural Trust provided early access to the pilot of its Career Exploration in the Arts (CEA) curriculum to all Texas educators. This curriculum was developed with the support of our partner, Center for Educator Development in the Fine Arts (CEDFA). The CEA curriculum was designed for the traditional classroom setting and resources have been included to support virtual learning settings.

CEA is a unit of study designed for high school art, dance, music, and theatre classes. The unit explores career opportunities in the arts and identifies how arts education prepares students for success in all careers.

Register for CEA Curriculum

Distance Learning and Career Exploration in the Arts

  • Lessons are TEKS-based, 7E-aligned, designed for grades 9th-12th, and can easily be adapted for grades 6th-8th.
  • Teachers can easily adapt these lessons for online-only delivery of fine arts instruction.
  • Lessons will provide students with quality instruction at home.
  • Teachers are able to copy/paste content and objectives into existing digital classrooms (e.g., Google Classroom).
  • Teachers have the option of using Zoom, or another platform to video-capture teacher-led instruction and post those videos to their district’s learning portals to augment the online student-led research portions of these units.
  • Lessons are heavily student-centered: the bulk of each lesson can be made available for immediate student use without much time-intensive adaptations by teachers.